1. Using Local Health Data to Identify Disparities in King County Analysis: Eva Wong, Mike Smyser Presenter: Susan Kinne Assessment, Policy Development and Evaluation Unit Public Health-Seattle & King County

2. Background (apologies for acronyms) PHSKC applied for ARRA health promotion grants King County smoking rates very low: so why fund us? Looked at disparities in smoking compared to those of other metro counties Surprising findings! Unfinished work; start of the discussion

4. Methodology Used Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS) data for the county Examined smoking rates by race and ethnicity (African/American non-Hispanic vs White non-Hispanic) Computed rate ratios: 1 rate divided by another More advantaged group is the denominator or “reference group”

7. Rate Ratio Ranks for Some Indicators MeasureRatioRank (adj.) No physical act.Black/white4 No physical act.Hispanic/white1 No physical act.Low/High Income4 No physical act.Poverty/Not Poverty1 No physical act.HS/College Deg.2 SmokerBlack/white1 SmokerHispanic/white2 SmokerLow/High Income1 SmokerPoverty/Not Poverty2 SmokerHS/College Deg.1 UninsuredBlack/white1 UninsuredHispanic/white2 UninsuredLow/High Income2 UninsuredPoverty/Not Poverty1 UninsuredHS/College Deg.4 =in top 2

10. Take-home messages: compared to other large counties… King County’s low overall smoking rates are driven by its relatively advantaged population Majority white, well-off, highly educated population is smoking less Minority non-white population has very different profile All information supports focus on disadvantaged populations King County was funded by ARRA

11. What We’re Doing Now Running different disparity indicators on a few variables Identifying underlying philosophical differences among indicators Deciding which disparity indicators suit our needs

12. Advice and opinions appreciated Susan.kinne@kingcounty.gov